Saturday, January 19, 2013

The Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests in 2013 is growing as a renewed inclusive Christ-centered, justice-seeking movement within the Catholic Church emerging in more and more places led by ordained women. We give thanks for you, our supporters. In 2012 five women were ordained as priests and another six women as deacons. We anticipate the ordination of as many as nine women as priests in 2013. In spite of the Vatican-imposed punishment of excommunication our movement for Gospel equality continues to grow.

Roman Catholic Women Priests are a new vision rising up: one of inclusion, nonviolence and justice in our church and world community. We are active in ministries with those who are living on the margins due to homelessness, racism, poverty and difference. We serve as pastors for house churches and inclusive Catholic communities. We are educators and authors, retreat leaders and peace activists. We provide pastoral care in a variety of medical settings. We work with youth, families, the elderly and the disaffected to heal and build community often in ecumenical settings.

Because we are so blessed with growth we know that we need increased financial support. Our largest expenses are for our ordinations and all the ways we spread our good news by speaking to groups in colleges and universities and at showings of the documentary “Pink Smoke”, through our website, and by visiting and collaborating with our priests in South America.

That’s what ARCWP is about. We work tirelessly to bring about the Kin-dom in local communities by the giving of ourselves in ministry and by challenging the powers that be. We know that we can count on you to support our efforts. Please make your tax-deductible donation to: ARCWP at the address above. Since travel costs are one of our largest expenses, we would gratefully accept the purchase of an airline ticket through any frequent flier program.

We invite you to visit our website (www.arcwp.org) and Bridget Mary Meehan’s blog (www.bridgetmarys. blogspot.com) for the latest in our movement for a renewed, inclusive church.We offer you our blessings as we move forward together,The Women of ARCWP The Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests, Inc. is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt charitable organization.Donations are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

Friday, January 18, 2013

http://christiancatholicism.com/will-the-next-pope-become-the-vaticans-last-pope/"The next pope, expected soon by many, will apparently be the last imperial pope elected. Thereafter, the Catholic hierarchy will likely be compelled to adopt power-sharing reforms under accelerating pressure, including from political leaders in Australia, Ireland, Germany and soon likely the USA, as well. The percentage of voting Cardinals in the Vatican, mostly Italians, has increased considerably during Benedict XVI’s short tenure. This has fortified the Vatican Cardinal clique’s veto grip on the next papal election, which likely will be of an initially younger, longer serving, but similarly imperial, pope... ""Ongoing developments indicate that electing a new pope now, who would appear to be just another puppet of the imperial Vatican clique, would likely lead rapidly to the end of the Roman Holy Empire. These ongoing developments include: (A) the continuing disclosures of the Catholic hierarchy’s worldwide criminal conspiracies, (B) the imminent end of papal primacy and the return of accountability, (C) the steady restoration of scriptural primacy and simple Gospel values, and (D) the increasing loss of effective Vatican political power worldwide."

International prosecutors, government investigators and/or abuse survivors’ lawyers will likely continue their relentless pursuit of key Cardinals, including perhaps the pope, for child endangerment abuse cover-up practices and for bank money laundering and other financial crimes. Pressure will continue to mount from:(1) the ongoing revelations from the major governmental investigation commission in Australia (and probably soon in the USA as well), which will override non-disclosure agreements and compel testimony, including about the details of communications between the local hierarchy and Vatican officials;

(3) the award winning HBO documentary (“Mea Maxima Culpa”) about over 200 deaf Milwaukee boys sexually abused by a single priest that will begin airing internationally on February 4, which includes details of the failure of the current pope’s former CDF department to deal effectively and expeditiously with the evident predator, as well as the clip of the pope earlier slapping an ABC-TV reporter for daring to press him on the status of Father Maciel’s almost fifty-year old investigation;(4) the seemingly unending bizarre saga of Cardinal Rigali’s former Philly Archdiocesean priests’ ongoing child sexual abuse and/or child endangerment criminal trials, and the related blatant perjury and document destruction admissions;(5) the ongoing stonewalling by German bishops apparently to keep independent investigators like Professor Pfeiffer from getting to the Munich and Regensburg files of the Ratzinger brothers;(6) New York Cardinal Dolan’s shameful and failed effort to try illegally to keep millions of dollars of Milwaukee funds from abuse survivors, including some of the 200 deaf boys mentioned above;(7) the continuation in office of Kansas City Bishop Finn after his conviction for a child endangerment related crime, despite the demands of many local Catholics that he be removed;(8) the arrest of Cardinal Egan’s and Archbishop Lori’s former Bridgeport top aide, Monsignor Wallin, reportedly a cross dressing, porn distributing, alleged drug dealer;(9) the appointment of one of disgraced Cardinal Law’s former canon lawyers as the new chief Vatican prosecutor of predatory priests; and(10) inevitably more obscene revelations related to the foregoing, that will just add more fuel to the demand for more and stronger prosecutorial efforts worldwide against the Catholic hierarchy.(B) The End of Papal Primacy and the Restoration of AccountabilityAnticipated disclosures from these prosecutorial proceedings from previously secret Vatican documents and likely sworn testimony from Vatican employees, such as the papal butler who can be expected to reveal more especially after Gorgeous Georg’s surprising promotion to Archbishop, and notwithstanding the apparent effort to buy the butler’s silence with a new Catholic hospital position in Rome, appear likely to raise more issues of greater papal culpability. These issues will then serve to buttress the increasingly widely disseminated historical and scriptural evidence that shows clearly that “divine origin” claims for papal authority are mainly unsupportable. The imminent collapse of papal credibility and authority will likely lead more Catholics to revisit and to seek to restore the structure that Jesus and his first disciples left behind intentionally, where local church gatherings were overseen by locally selected and accountable leaders, both male and female..."

Bridget Mary's Response:Excellent article by Jerry Slevin that should be read by everyone. The spirituality of Catholicism is profound. The Gospel and sacramental celebrations are at the heart of our faith. We have a beautiful mystical and social justice tradtion. The community of faith, the people of God, are the church, as Vatican 11 reminded us, not the hierarchy alone.Jesus could not stand the religious hypocrisy of the religious leaders and lashed out against their abuse of spiritual power. It is time for Catholics to follow Jesus' example and challenge the Vatican and hierarchy to a reform that includes structural change and accountability. The Roman Catholic Women Priests Movement is providing a model of renewal that affirms Gospel equality and justice for women in the church. We welcome all celebrate Eucharist and our vision is an empowered, partnership model of church! Women priests have not left the church, as the Vatican claims, but are leading the church into its future now!Bridget Mary Meehan, arcwpwww.arcwp.orgsofiabmm@aol.com

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

By Gary Macy
Two points are important to make about the development of leadership roles in the church in the period from the fifth to the 13th centuries. First, the definition of ordination changed radically during the 12th century. Second, women were considered capable of ordination up until the 13th century. This having been said, it is important to understand what ordination meant from the fifth to the 13th centuries. Only then can we understand what it meant to ordain women during that period.
Read Morehttp://ncronline.org/node/42706

"...During the first millennium of Christianity, ordination meant election by and installation of a person to perform a particular function in a Christian community. Not only bishops, priests, deacons and subdeacons but also of porters, lectors, exorcists, acolytes, canons, abbots, abbesses, kings, queens and empresses were all considered equally ordained. This makes perfect sense. An ordo (order) was a group in the church (or society) that had a particular job or vocation. In fact, any job or vocation was called an "order," and the process by which one was chosen and designated for that vocation was an "ordination. To quote Cardinal Yves Congar, the French Dominican theologian who died in 1995 at age 91, "Ordination encompassed at the same time election as its starting point and consecration as its term. But instead of signifying, as happened from the beginning of the 12th century, the ceremony in which an individual received a power henceforth possessed in such a way that it could never be lost, the words ordinare, ordinari, ordinatio signified the fact of being designated and consecrated to take up a certain place, or better a certain function, ordo, in the community and at its service." Ordination did not give a person, for instance, the irrevocable and portable power of consecrating the bread and wine, or of leading the liturgy, but rather a particular community would charge a person to play a leadership role within that community (and only within that community) and he or she would lead the liturgy because of the leadership role they played within the community. So any leader of a community would be expected to lead the liturgy..."

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/losing-my-religion-for-equality-20090714-dk0v.html"Women and girls have been discriminated against for too long in a twisted interpretation of the word of God. I HAVE been a practising Christian all my life and a deacon and Bible teacher for many years. My faith is a source of strength and comfort to me, as religious beliefs are to hundreds of millions of people around the world. So my decision to sever my ties with the Southern Baptist Convention, after six decades, was painful and difficult. It was, however, an unavoidable decision when the convention's leaders, quoting a few carefully selected Bible verses and claiming that Eve was created second to Adam and was responsible for original sin, ordained that women must be "subservient" to their husbands and prohibited from serving as deacons, pastors or chaplains in the military service."

ARCWP ORDINATION INVITATIONYOU ARE INVITED AND WELCOME TO THEASSOCIATION OF ROMAN CATHOLIC WOMEN PRIESTSORDINATION TO THE PRIESTHOODOfDr. Rosemarie SmeadARCWP Deacon1:00pm Saturday, April 27th, 2013St. Andrews United Church of Christ2608 Browns LaneLouisville, KY 40220Come join us, all are welcome, all are invited to the table of Christ-SophiaFor further information:

http://questionsfromaewe.blogspot.com/(From Questions from a Ewe Blog)"Assertion: If gospels say Jesus did something with one gender it must be preserved forever. Concern(s): Uses an inconsistent ruleJesus only permitted women to anoint him. “Messiah” means “anointed one.” Since only women anointed Jesus to acknowledge his messianic calling, women should be the only ones to anoint sacramentally to acknowledge God’s call. The church anoints for 3 purposes: acknowledging a call (baptism, confirmation, orders), exorcism (baptism and anointing of sick), and healing (anointing of sick). Jesus only commissioned the apostles to anoint the sick yet apostles anoint for all 3 reasons. Consistent use of their rule would have apostles only anointing the sick and women anointing for all other reasons..."

Monday, January 14, 2013

A large group of women from different faith traditions attended the second showing of "Pink Smoke Over the Vatican" on Sunday, Jan. 13th at the Unitarian Church in Sarasota, Florida. Katy Zatsick and I answered questions from the audience following the movie about our experiences as Roman Catholic Women Priests and the impact the movement is having in the church and beyond. We heard many positive comments and expressions of support and solidarity. Wouldn't it be great if this movie was available on Netflix? I believe that the Interfaith Women's Alliance is a powerful group of women of faith and action. Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP, www.arcwp.org